Super Bowls Ads – Do They Actually Sell Anything?

We're just weeks away from the Super Bowl and what many people are looking forward to the most isn't the game, but the commercials.

Each year businesses shell out millions upon millions of dollars to have their ads played during the biggest game of the year; that's not counting what they spend to produce it either. But do those ads actually sell anything or are they sixty second comedies?

A recent study suggest that 80% of the ads don't sell anything at all.

Granted, the ads do raise more awareness than an average ad aired any other time of the year with 44% of consumers saying they remember what they saw in a Super Bowl ad. But the creative aspect in the ad sometimes losses what's being sold with many consumers remembering the ad itself more so than the brand it was selling.

Jeri Smith, CEO of Communicus & the company that conducted the study, says that long-form 60 second ads run the risk of the consumer becoming so caught up in the story that they don't remember the brand. Typical ads take four weeks to make a real impression on the consumer, so an overloaded 60 second ad won't stick as much with a consumer while they are being bombarded with multiple messages during the game.

To be the most successful, Smith says the companies need to tackle to main things: brand awareness and persuasive impact. The impact is how it engages the consumer and persuades them. Budweiser, Best But, M&M's, Oreo, and Dodge were the top 5 to effectively do this last year.

[Ad Age]